Welcome Home, Batman
by Ren Kayashima
Summary: Jason Reid asks his mother why his dad is always gone, so what happens when she tries to come up with a kid friendly comparison of Spencer Reid's job. A Ibuprofen and Plasma oneshot


Author: Ren Kayashima

Genre: Humor

Rating: K

Disclaimer: Alas my top secret mission to steal the rights to Criminal Minds failed. At the last minute my repel line broke and I was arrested for trespassing on ABC ground. If you would like to help me with bail money…

**Important: This is an oneshot that ties in with my Ibuprofen and Plasma story. It stands on its own though, but if you want the full story of how Gwenevere and Spencer meet, check out Ibuprofen and Plasma. **

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September 1, 2020

Little Jason Reid was escorted into the house by his mother. He gripped the straps of his Batman backpack tightly as he looked around the house expectantly. "You said Daddy was coming home today," he said looking up at his mother slightly disappointed.

"He _is_ coming home today," Gwenevere answered as she moved the one year old in her arms to the large couch for the sake of dropping the rest of her load. "In fact, he should have been home by now," she said looking at the clock above their TV. She dropped the baby bag on the ground unceremoniously, and slipped her messenger bag off her shoulder.

"Why is Daddy always gone?" Jason asked moving closer to his mom.

The baby girl started to fuss on the couch, so Gwen moved to pick her up. "You are such an attention hog, Bronte. Do you want to go play with your blocks?" Gwen asked. She looked down at her son and messed up his thick brown hair. "Daddy's off chasing the bad guys."

"What kind of bad guys?" Jason asked. He still held his backpack tightly. He would be starting kindergarten tomorrow, and he wanted to make sure everyone knew it. He was a school boy now, and he wore his backpack proudly.

Gwen pulled a plastic teething ring out of the baby bag and moved towards the back of the house where a large play room had been set up for her two children, soon to be three seeing as the doctor had just confirmed that she was pregnant again. She sat the one year old down on the beige carpet of the play room and started opening all of the curtains to let in some natural light. She looked at Jason. "Jason, why don't you take your backpack off," she suggested as she sat on the floor next to her daughter and handed over a blue block with the letter F on it.

Jason reluctantly removed his symbol of boyhood and dropped it on the ground. "What kind of bad guys, Mommy?" he asked again, never forgetting his question.

"Well," Gwen tried to begin, but she found the explanation ill-suited for a child of five. "You see… he goes after really bad people. They don't do nice things at all, and Daddy goes out to stop them."

Jason sat down on the carpet criss cross applesauce just like he had learned in preschool. He looked at the caped crusader on his backpack. "Like how Batman goes after the Joker or Penguin."

Gwen silently looked at her son before half shrugging, half nodding. "Yeah, let's go with that," she said biting the inside of her cheek before she continued. "Daddy's like Batman. He goes after people like The Joker all the time, and sometimes he needs to go far away because the Bat Signal popped up somewhere else. He goes far away because he needs to save little boys like you from people like the Joker. Do you understand?" Gwen looked over and pulled Bronte's hand away from her mouth and handed the baby the teething ring. "Bronte, we don't put blocks in our mouth."

Jason grabbed his backpack and put it in his lap. He looked at his mom. "Does that make you Batgirl?"

"Umm…" Gwen trailed off as she looked at the ceiling. Was there ever a thing between Batman and Batgirl? Wasn't it Robin Batgirl had feelings for? "No," she said finally. "Mommy's not Batgirl. She's more like Wonder Woman." She laughed as she started stacking some of Bronte's blocks.

"You're prettier than Wonder Woman," Jason said bluntly.

"Thank you, Jason."

"Hello?" Spencer's voice called from the front of the house. "Gwenevere?"

"We're in the playroom," Gwen called back.

"Daddy!" Jason stood up and ran to meet his father. His running was slightly hindered as he hugged his backpack tightly to his chest.

Spencer Reid dropped his worn out leather bag on the couch next to his wife's own messenger bag as Jason came sprinting over excitedly. "Hey, Jason," he greeted happily. "Are you ready for your first day of kindergarten tomorrow?" Reid had made sure that he wouldn't be called in so that he could go with Gwenevere to take Jason to his very first day. He wouldn't dream of missing it.

"Yes!" Jason said nodding so fast, his father thought the five year old would get whiplash. "Hey, Daddy, can I be Robin?"

"What?" Spencer asked as he guided Jason back to the playroom.

"Mommy says you chase really bad people just like Batman," Jason explained clearly. He smiled up at his dad. "Can I be Robin? Can I chase bad guys with you?"

Spencer saw Gwen leaning against a wall tiredly. She held Bronte in her lap and was reading a small cardboard book. She looked up and smiled. "He asked why you were gone so much. I didn't know what else to say."

Reid shook his head as he moved to sit next to Gwen. He took Bronte's small hand away from her mouth and looked at Jason. "Of course you can be Robin. You know what will be your big job?"

Jason sat next to Spencer and let his dad wrap long arms around him. "What?" he asked.

"Robin needs to keep Mommy-"

"I'm Wonder Woman, actually," Gwen butted in.

Spencer laughed. "Robin needs to keep Wonder Woman and little Bronte safe while I'm gone. Can you do that?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jason said quietly. "I can do that. Who would Lizzie and Greg be?

"Cloak and Dagger?" Gwen asked Spencer who shrugged.

"How does that sound, Robin?" Spencer asked smiling at the codenames.

"I like it," Jason said. He broke away to play with some Legos.

Spencer looked at Gwen and took her hand in his. He looked at the wedding ring on her finger and his smile grew, just like it did every time he looked at it. "So Wonder Woman, how was your day?"

"I went to the doctor after I dropped Jason and Bronte off at my parents," she said, brushing some of her long curly brown hair out of her face. She ran her open hand over Bronte's silky brown hair. "I'm pregnant again."

She said it so easily that Spencer almost missed the meaning of her words. "What?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Yup," Gwen answered looking at Spencer. "Bronte is going to have a little brother or sister. Who knows, in two week, we might be told I'm having twins. I'm only six weeks along, so they aren't sure if they heard two heartbeats."

"Huh," Spencer hummed. He looked across the room at Jason who was working on building a spacecraft. "Did you hear that? Mommy's going to have another baby."

Jason looked up and smiled as he nodded. "Mommy says that the baby will be named Diana if it's a girl, and that you need to come up with a boy name," he said. "If it's a boy, you should name him Bruce. Like Bruce Wayne."

"I kind of like Wayne," Gwen mused rubbing her stomach. She squeezed Spencer's hand. "Welcome home, Batman."

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Author's Note: Okay, so any of my repeat readers will know that this ties in with my current story Ibuprofen and Plasma. It's a Reid/OC story and this takes place a good eight years in the future. I may have just shown my hand a little bit by writing this, but I don't really mind. It was a lot of fun to write, and I know that people in the IAP readership will possibly like it.

Drop me a review and let me know what you think.

Ren


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